Theme: Act Justly

Prelude: Track: Track #11, 8, Moby, ex Songs.
Handouts: John 4 text, song lyrics, art title.

1. Candle Lighting liturgy to start reflection.

2. Image: project Lavinia Fontana image, Christ and the Woman of Samaria, 1607.

3. Rant: As you look at the image you might like to think about what the artist has chosen to paint…
What is included? Excluded?
What moment in the story has the painting frozen,
Why did the artist choose this moment?
What does the artist want the viewer to know about this incident?
(1-2 minutes reflection)

Introduce Image: Figures are in the foreground, almost obscuring the well.
Jesus looks weary, unenthusiastic.
Woman is bursting out of the painting. Concentrating.
Her gaudy coloured clothes and loose hair suggest a scandalous past.
Sensual, almost sexy image.
(Allow 1-2 minutes for reflection)

4. Read biblical text John 4

This is a remarkable story. Who is this woman?
The woman that medieval writers gave the name Photina. I wonder what Photina really ooked like?
How old she was? What she was wearing this afternoon? How was her hair done?
Was she wearing any makeup? What she had been doing earlier that morning?

According to the cultural and religious rules of his day Jesus shouldn't have been talking to this woman.
First of all a good Jew wouldn't talk in public to a woman he didn't know, and a woman alone at that…
Then he shouldn't have been talking to a Samaritan.
They were despised by the Jews as being inferior and not very nice (To put it mildly).
Then he asked her if he could drink from her water container. A real no no. He was asking to use utensils and bowls that weren't ritually clean. That was against his religion. It showed he either didn't understand what being Jewish was all about, or he was deliberately flouting the deeply ingrained ways of doing things.
And all this from a supposed religious leader . A teacher. A Rabbi.
This is no ordinary encounter.
No wonder the disciples were surprised when they saw what was going on.

Think about this woman for a moment.
We can see how this artist saw her.
How do you see this woman? Is she a first century JLo?
Often, perhaps usually, this story is read with the implication that the woman is almost prostitute-like – after all she’s had 5 husbands and is onto her 6th relationship!
Maybe she’s some kind of sex-addict. Poor woman. Can’t help herself.
That seems to be how this artist has understood her.

I think that is character assassination of the worst kind. It’s a prejudiced, judgemental response that is totally unjust. And it isn’t supported by the biblical text. We assume verse 27 says she’s a ‘scarlet woman’ but that reflects the moralistic, sex oriented perspective we bring to the text. The returning disciples could just as likely be referring to her status as a woman and a Samaritan. Someone on the margins.

It is possible, though perhaps unlikely, that her 5 husbands died on her – in which case we should have compassion on her.
But even if that didn’t happen, there is no way in the culture of her day that she could have divorced one husband, let alone 5.
It was a mans world. Women had very few rights.
The right to divorce wasn’t one of them.

This woman didn’t have 5 husbands. Five men had her.
She was more likely a severely abused woman.

How often do we make judgements about people we meet or read about when we really have no idea what their story is?
Acting justly requires us to suspend judgement, to listen, to look inside ourself before we act.

5. Link: Perhaps if the woman had been at the well in our time she would have used these words to describe how she felt, how she saw Jesus…perhaps they are the words that you and I would want to use as our prayer tonight. (TRACK…)

6. Track: 'Bring Me To Life', by Evanescence ex Fallen, track 2 (laptop)

7. Linking Rant: God our Creator, the one who always acts justly toward us, wake us up inside so that we see people and situations as you see them and learn to act justly, just as you do. Amen.

8. Blow out candle to signify end of reflection.